Paul V. Roberts
Encyclopedia
Paul V. Roberts was a prominent environmental engineer. He made major contributions to environmental engineering
Environmental engineering
Environmental engineering is the application of science and engineering principles to improve the natural environment , to provide healthy water, air, and land for human habitation and for other organisms, and to remediate polluted sites...

 by applying fundamental principles of mass transport and chemistry to drinking water treatment
Water treatment
Water treatment describes those processes used to make water more acceptable for a desired end-use. These can include use as drinking water, industrial processes, medical and many other uses. The goal of all water treatment process is to remove existing contaminants in the water, or reduce the...

 and wastewater
Wastewater
Wastewater is any water that has been adversely affected in quality by anthropogenic influence. It comprises liquid waste discharged by domestic residences, commercial properties, industry, and/or agriculture and can encompass a wide range of potential contaminants and concentrations...

 reclamation research. An author of more than 200 scientific publications, he was a member of the National Academy of Engineering
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...

 and the Swiss Academy of Sciences
Swiss Academy of Sciences
The Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences is a Swiss organization that supports and networks the sciences at a regional, national and international level...

.

Biography

Paul Roberts graduated with a B.S. degree in chemical engineering
Chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with physical science , and life sciences with mathematics and economics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms...

 from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 in 1960, and received a Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

 in 1966. He taught at the Universidad Católica de Valparaíso and the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María
Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María
thumbnail|right|276px|University frontisThe Federico Santa María Technical University , is a Chilean university situated in Valparaíso, Chile...

 in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, and worked as a process engineer with Chevron
Chevron Corporation
Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining,...

 Research Company in Richmond, California. In 1968, he joined the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park. After he received a M.S. degree in environmental engineering at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

 in 1971, he joined the Swiss Federal Institute of Water Supply and Water Pollution Control. In 1976 he left his position as the head of the engineering department at the Institute and began his career at Stanford. In 1989 Roberts was named the C.L. Peck, Class of 1906 Professor in the School of Engineering. He died of leukemia in February, 2006, at his home in Cupertino.

Major Contributions

Paul Roberts was a pioneer in applying fundamental principles of mass transport and chemistry to engineered environmental systems. His broad body of work spans such topics as reclaimed wastewater, drinking water disinfection, adsorption and volatilization of organic contaminants during water and wastewater treatment, contaminant transport in groundwater, and multiphase flow in porous media. He is perhaps best known for conceiving and directing the first and probably the most definitive field study ever conducted on the movement and fate of hazardous chemicals in groundwater at the Borden site in Canada. In this study, his team clearly demonstrated the scientific value of carefully designed large-scale field experiments to test hypotheses, to validate mathematical models, to generate understanding of important natural processes, and to uncover still more important questions in need of better theoretical understanding.

In addition to his individual research contributions Paul was an accomplished teacher and mentor.

Awards and Distinctions

  • United States Environmental Protection Agency
    United States Environmental Protection Agency
    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...

     Scientific and Technical Achievement Award (1989)
  • United States National Committee of the International Association on Water Pollution Research and Control Founders Award (1990)
  • Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors Founders Award (2003)
  • American Water Works Association Academic Achievement Award
  • Elected member of the National Academy of Engineering
    National Academy of Engineering
    The National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...

    (1997)

Obituary

An obituary (page 5) in the newsletter of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors.
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